Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1887-04-29

against the fence, painting, breathless,
but exultant She had won the race
The house was only one forlorn
old room, built Of rough hewn logs,
with a rickety shed in the rear. A
small garden spot and the meagre
space inclosed with the house com.
prised all the open ground. Noun
tains rose darkly above it, and below,
the mountain road wound aud twist
ed in its tortuous course to the fair.
open valley. At the back of the
dwelling the ridge shelved abruptly
off into o deep rayine, dark the
brightest MONDAY, an abyss of black,
ness at night.
From the low, wide front door
ruddy light streamed generously, de.
tying the brooding night, playing fan.
tastic tricks with the thickly growing
bushes on the roadside. The girl had
good view of the interior, the men
lounging around the fire, the livid
fame of pine knots bring out the lines
on their tanned, weatherbeaten faces,
flashing into their lowering eyes, and
searching out with cruel distinctness
all the rough shabbiness of their
coarse bomespun and jeans.
There were the WhitakJr hoys,
hardy, middle aged men; jeff Ward,
little shriveled fellow with long,
tangled, gray beard and sharp, watch
ful eyes; Bill Fletcher. who had
bravely survived the trials which had
proved the death of his comrade, poor
Al Hendries; Jeems Allen, q smooth
faced boy, and Gabe Plummer. He
sat somewhat aioof from the others,
staring gloomily into the fire, instead
of giving attention to the lively story
JEFF Ward was telling At one end
of the great hearth, laid of rough un-
hewn rocks, sat old man Whitaker, at
the other his wife-a gray and wither-
ed couple; he tremllo4s with age,
she deaf as a stone.
Nobody seemed to be on the look.
out for enemies. The wide flung
door, the brilliant light, the careless
group, gave an imprcssion'of security.
What had become or the revenue
officers? No sound of hoofs struck
upon the hard road, or murmer of
voices betrayed hostile approach.
Eph turned and peered down the
road, then clutched excttedly at his
companions arm
Good Lord, S'phiry.sAnn! they're
right down there a-hitchin' they
horses an a-gittin' ready ter creep
up. Pm er goin' ter leave here"
S'phiry sprang across the fence,
and the next moment stood in the
door
"The raiders, the raiders air a
comin'," she cried, not loudly but
with startling distinctnessj hsr torn
dress, wild, loose hair, and brilliant,
excited eyes, giving her C strangely
unfamiliar aspect. The warning cry
thrilled through the room and brought
every man to his feet in an instant.
"Whar? which wayi" exclaimed
young Jeems Allen, staring first up
among the smoke blackened rafters,
then at the solid log wall.
faint the time fer akin ques-
tions, but fer running, boys" said
Jeff Ward, making a dash toward the
back door, closely followed by his
comrades Gabe Plummer had made
u step toward S'phiry Ann, but she
vanished as he appeared, and he es-
capped with his friends into the fast
ness of the woods. There was
shout from the raiders, creeping
stealthily around the house, a dis
ordered pursuit, and over the cabin
the stiffness following sudden whirl-
wind seemed to fall.
S'phiry Ann crept cautiously out
from the chimney corner, slipped over
the fence and knelt down on the edge
of the bushes to watch and wait
The officers soon returned with torn
clothes, scratched hands and faces,
but without prisoner. They were
swearing in no measured terms at be-
ing baffied of their prey.
Old man Whitaker and his wife
had quietly remained in the house,
apparently not greatly moved from
their usual placidity Once the old
woman dropped the ball of coarse
yarn she was winding and rose to her
feet, but the old man motioned her
down again. They were questioned
by the officers, but
what reliable information could be ex-
pected from all imbecile old man and a
deaf old woman! The girl could
overlook the whole scene from the
crack in the fence-the officers stamp
ing about the room, the scattered
chairs, the old people with their
withered, yellow faces, dim eyes and
bent, shrunken forms, and the dane
ing flames leaping up the wide, sooty
chimney. Satisfied that the distill-
ers were safe she softly rose and
started across the road One of the
men caught glimpse of her. the
merest shadow outline, and instan tly
shouted:
"There goes one of 'em now"
She heard him, heard the rush Of
feet over the threshold and the bare
yard, and, without backward glance
fed like a wild thing through the
woods, home.
One afternoon, week later,
S'phiry Ann drew the wheel out into
the middle of the floor, frightened the
band, pulled a strip of yellow corn
husk from chink in the logs, and
set herself to spinning the "fillin'"
for the piece of cloth in the loom.
Her mother and father were out in
garden sowing seeds, Eph was cut
ting bushes in the new ground, and
she could hear the loud, resonant
"gee-haw" with which her father
guided the OK drawing his plow. 1t
was serenely still day, with the
heat of midsummer in it's glowing
sunshine, with only a heck of cloud
here and there along the horizon and
mountains wrapped in fine, blue
haze
1t had been a trying week to
S'phiry Ann, but she had no time to
nope and brood over her anxieties,
no inclination to conide them to her
family. She had not shirked daily